cav551:
The LV ERF cab compared with the Atkinson mark one.Cold in winter hot in summer, draughty and noisy. Cramped in the ERF with the cab dominated by the slightly higher engine cover; the Atkinson felt more roomy since you sat slightly further away from the windscreen. There were gaps around the doors and pedals in both - the Atki being worse. The floor was level in the ERF, you stepped down into the Atkinson from the doorsill. You shared the cab with the air cleaner in the Atki. You shared it with the batteries in both. The switches in both were an afterthought, apart from the indicators which were on a stalk the Atki’s were on a panel down by your right leg, they were scattered along the dash in the ERF. The gear lever was better positioned and slightly longer in the Atkinson.
Both shook you to pieces when empty since the springs were so hard. Of the two the ERF had a much better seating position, the Atkinson was just plain uncomfortable, you had to tilt your head slightly to one side to see out under the header rail and around the wiper motor, also you couldn’t sit quite straight, having to angle yourself slightly to the nearside since the steering wheel and column was offset that way by a few inches. To reach the clutch pedal you had to curl your left leg around the column, Driving in rain was worse still since the tiny wiper didn’t clear much of the screen and the unswept bit directly under the motor was the bit you had to look through. The screens soon misted up, the left one completely. It was rather comical on first encounter seeing steam coming off the external radiator in the wet.Both leapt up and down as you let the clutch in to pull away. The ERF definitely had the better brakes, Atkinson stuck with lock actuators to the bitter end, ERF had Spring brakes from way back.
Both Improved the cab over time especially with power steering, Atkinson notably better with the Mark Two version (imitation plastic external radiator) which was so much bigger and level, its main drawback being that the windscreens would fall out and nothing had been done about the offset steering column.
ERF in cab pictures. I Can’t find equivalent Mark one Atkinson pictures.
Reading that makes me realise just how unfussy I was back in the day. I drove both the Atki’s and LV ERF’s and never took any notice of their shortcomings that you mention.
